


I'm A Pilot.

by someotherme



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 15:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8407732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someotherme/pseuds/someotherme
Summary: Melinda May wasn't afraid of the dark, not really, not since she had been a child and her mother had whispered how the monsters under her bed were nothing compared to the fears that lived in her heart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Because why the fudge not.
> 
> Not Beta'd so all mistakes are my own.

Melinda May wasn't afraid of the dark, not really, not since she had been a child and her mother had whispered how the monsters under her bed were nothing compared to the fears that lived in her heart. 

She remembers the night. When the footsteps coming down her hallway were singular, no rebound mirror of larger footsteps or the familiar laugh that usually followed her mother's gruffly voice. She remembers that night souly on the bases that her mother hadn't echoed a word and when Melinda had gone to open her mouth to her the older woman had simply shot her an unamused look, stating; "Does it need to be said, Melinda?" The woman paused, arching an eyebrow and levelling her with a straightened look.

When the little girl shook her head, her mother huffed. "Then do not say it."

Black hair rustling against her pillow, she nodded dutifully, absorbing her mother's words. Melinda watched with hooded eyes as the older May moved to the lights, turning back to check her daughter was in bed as she should be. _But she had not done the song, her father always did the song, always checked under her bed, in the corners of her room and finally in her closet. **Always**._  The May woman seemed to sense the voices on the tip of her daughter's tongue, quick to cut them off.

"The real monsters are not to be found under your bed, you're not little anymore, no- not anymore, Qiaolian."

_Not anymore._

Melinda sobbed at the memory, biting her lip to the point of metallic anger. It was dark, so very dark that she couldn’t even see her hands when she put them in front of her eyes. Not seeing anything was truly starting to piss her off however, because she didn’t know where she was going, she was a top agent and here she was, stumbling and stalling over rocks and even if she knew the path she had come in, she couldn’t be sure where she was now. She had been on the right path, hours ago, until her torch had passed out and left her alone in the dark.

She reached down to her side, feeling only material _no sidearm_ and bowed her head. Building her anger as her body betrayed her once again and she let a withering moan escape the imprisonment of her teeth. Here she was, Melinda May, _The Calvary,_ left for meat against the black of darkness, alone. Alone and _in labour_. 

She was two weeks from her due date, she should have known it could have happened at any time and she shouldn’t have gone venturing into the woods so late into her pregnancy, but the baby wasn’t supposed to come in advance... She knew it happened; babies could come before the date they were expected and by that time there wasn’t any danger for its health, but this didn't feel right. Her baby should have come on time, not after, not before, and now she could feel that something was wrong. There was pain in her spine and it made it difficult to walk, she had pain radiating from her bellybutton down to her shins and she could feel the baby moving into position. She had talked to the baby, willing it to just stay put a little while longer, to just hang in there until she could find help. But there was no-one. God but  _Phil_. Her salvation. The father of her child. A man who would not get to know his baby. Without help or a plan she was surely to die out here.

When contractions had begun, she had just thought it was a bodily reaction to the amount of walking she had done, and that they wouldn’t last long. Except that they had never stopped. She had kept walking anyway, because she knew she had to get out; she couldn’t do that alone here. But the closer the contractions were the slower she was walking and now she could barely stand up anymore and she was nothing but creeping, all on fours on the ground. Her whole body hurt and she could feel the life inside of her longing to get out, and she tried to talk to it, she tried to stop it, without success.

She could hear the gentle hum of traffic from a nearby highway. Yet she only made it a few more meters and she finally stopped, sitting on the ground, head making contact with the tree behind her and panting heavily, the pain worse than ever and her body already sweating in the effort. She couldn’t do anything more, she knew she wouldn’t reach the highway in time and the best thing to do was to stop and focus on her and her baby. It would no doubt be there soon and she must get prepared.

A rather heavy contraction had brought her knees closer to her chest, the pain riveting down her spine and pushing down through her cervix and in that moment she felt the dig of a lifeline in her back pocket. A little red button. To Phil's direct phone in his office.

She was fairly certain she wasn't lucid when she pressed it, she was fairly certain however that the whimper of thanks that formulated from her were from hearing his voice on the other side of the helpline.

"Mel? Mel what is it?" The voice came, he was stressed, she could tell. His voice did that high pitched thing when he was stressed. 

She went to laugh but only cries came from the cracks in her lips. 

"Melinda. Melinda, answer me."

"Phil...." 

"Talk to me Melinda, are you hurt?"

The bark of the tree was rough and a thankful distraction from the increasing pain that radiated from between her legs. Yet it was another contraction that caught her words in the channel of her throat, ripping a scream from out under her tongue. She was afraid, so afraid. Scared even. Scared to die here, scared for her child, scared that Phil would find only their bodies. She sent a silent prayer that the bears or wild dogs found her body first and removed any sign of a corpse.

She didn't hear his last words, didn't hear him tell her to _stay calm_ and that _he'd be there as soon as he could_. She did hear however, the loud siren at that punctuated that the call had ended. She sobbed for that. Sobbed for her baby and the love of her years, she sobbed for her own life and sobbed for the life that would never get lived. She sobbed for what seemed like nightfalls, until her cheeks burnt with tear tracks and her nose ran with streams. Another moan echoed, followed by short gasps of pain. But her sounds of weakness were dim, dulled by the sounds of familiar hum of the, no _her_ QuinJet. They seemed to be only a few yards from her. She could hear a voice then and moaned in a delightful pain.

 _Phil_. She could hear **him**. 

"May?" His voice bounced from each tree trunk and in her daze she couldn't locate his direction.

Another whimper echoed, followed by short gasps of pain. “I’m... I’m here.”

She could hear Skye next, concern evident through her voice. "She sounds hurt, Coulson."

Suddenly a light, brighter than the one she saw behind her eyes shone over the woodlands, illuminating the scenery.

Skye spotted her first, a pained, short mutter of her name before she sprung over to where May was. She was standing with difficulty, her legs shaking, a hand on the tree for support and the other one around her protruding stomach, clutching her skin with evident pain. 

Melinda almost burst into tears at the sight of the girl, letting a smile grace her lips when Mack swore under his breathe and joined her side, an arm sliding under the dip of her back, support the most of her weight. 

Coulson seemed frozen. He hadn't taken his eyes off her stomach. She wasn't even sure he was _breathing_. 

" **Coulson**." Skye seethed, flicking a hand by her side in a command that he should be here and not there as they practically dragged May towards the QuinJet. Coulson practically nodded his head off his neck as he ran a short circle around them, unsure which side to join until Skye detached herself from May and carded her off to Coulson in attempts to somehow _normalise_ the situation a little, he was director anyway, he was meant to be in charge. 

They were all acting surprisingly calm however, whether that was how she was perceiving their silence was something that could be questioned but as they reached the lip of the Jet all of them suddenly refound their feet and got into ranks. She could have been, _if she wasn't in so much pain_ , proud.

She heard talking and in her delirious state she felt the warmth of her lovers hand on the side of her cheek, suddenly aware of the lack of Mack on her left and the presence of the seat under her. 

"Did you hear that, Mel? Hey," He paused, focusing her eyes on his baby blues, keeping a finger tucked under her chin. In a firmer voice he resumed, "- **Hey,** eyes open Melinda. Did you hear what Mack said? We're ten minutes out, ten minutes. Fitzsimmons are waiting at the base for you, for....both of you. Okay?" Her head nearly lolled back in laziness, she was growing weary and her focus was out of strength, he tapped her lightly on the cheek- waking her up. "Wake up, Mel. We...we've got something, someone waiting to meet you." He brought their hands to the swell of her stomach, feeling the first movements of her child. 

When he nodded weakly she seemed to nod back to him, letting a uneven sigh from his lips before leaning up to press a kiss to her forehead. Murmuring lost words into her skin. "Why didn't you tell me 'Lin. That was foolish. You know it was." 

Whether she had passed out from exhaustion or pain she wasn't sure, she wasn't sure if she'd even passed out at all but it seemed only a minutes went by before they- More so Mack- was carrying her out and into the sterile, clean space of the lab. She immediately was warmed by the British accent that flowed around her. _Simmons_. She loved that girl like her own. How'd she grown.

With her head against the pillow of a seemingly new gurney, she let out a snap of pain as some idiot tried to insert a needle into her right arm. The young boy seemed caught like a deer in headlights but was quickly reassured and hushed away Fitz, leaving only the remaining clan. 

"Hey...Long time no see." Simmons started, May unsuccessfully tried to keep the smile from her features. She'd happily blame it on hormones later, _if there was later_.

"How far along are you May?" The Brit asked, the gentle flowerness of her voice made May swell with tears. Hopefully her own daughter found gentleness like this girl in front of her and not her mothers bitterness, May thought. 

"8 months, I'm two weeks early." She whispered, her voice cracking in disobedience as she tried to regain her composure. It was only then did she realise she hadn't had a contraction in a while. Not since she had come off the plane.

"Okay...That's okay...You're going to be absolutely fine." Simmons nodded, turning gently to the side and picking up a syringe and a little glass bottle of something. "I gave you something a couple of minutes ago to hopefully slow your contractions a little, I can see you're a little small, the stage in your pregnancy...Has she moved recently?" 

May can hear the uncertainty in the girls voice, there's something wrong, **_oh god_**...

"Phil....Where's Phil?" She moans, her voice is foreign even to her ears, letting loose tears fall from the corners of her eyes.

"Here, i'm right here, you're okay, everything's okay." His voice is the most beautiful salve to her fears, she can feel his hand run over the swell of their child, the other clutches her clammy one, reaching up to hesitantly kiss the corner of her mouth. Unsure in the mix of people, but she needs him and in all honestly, he needs her. "It- _She_ was moving on the plane, so...15 minutes ago? Less?"

Simmons nods, unmoved by the signs of affection the two are showing and moves to consult with a jittery looking Fitz.

Moving her head to the side she meets the eyes of that man, that man she had fallen in love with so many times but no more then now. He smoothed back her damp mass of hair that had started to matte around her face.

"I'm so scared, Phil. Please....You've got to promise-"

"No."

" **Promise** me that-"

"I'm going to have to check...down below, on how baby is doing. Is it that okay?" Simmons, unaware of her interruption asks, she's relishing the authority, in her element of her job.

Melinda nods stiffly, dutifully moving her legs up, letting out a squeal of pain before clamping her mouth shut and squeezing her eyes against the look on everyones face. Everyone seems to notice however and send Simmons a look of concern, Simmons waves them off before situating herself between the older woman's legs. Melinda can see fire behind her eyes as the scientist prods and feels the baby's development. 

"Seems we haven't got long before you'll meet this lil' bundle of joy." Simmons says with some delight, meeting Melinda's eyes before promptly changing her face and clearing her throat. "I'd place you at almost 9 centimetres." Jemma nods, placing a hand on May's shoulder before nodding towards Fitz. "I'm going to go get a few things, let you prepare yourself, okay? How's the pain?" 

May huffs out a laugh before levelling the girl with a look, Jemma shuffles, mumbling a soft 'Right, yes, of course.' before scrambling out of the room, minutes before Melinda wails against the pain of her next contraction, _somethings changed_. The pain is lower, almost breeching the top of her cervix and she pulls at Coulson's hand, pulling him upright as she squeezes his hand with all her might. And he lets her- encourages her even, brushing back her hair still and mumbling only he and she can hear until the contraction subdues and leaves them in a united pair, still mumbling encouragements into her ear. 

That moment is broken as Skye comes into the room, pacing back and forth while she eyes the two, moments from breaking. The evidence is written over her face as tears form in her eyes and her bottom lip trembles. Melinda spots her first and sighs out a gentle 'Oh Skye', beckoning the girl over with the little strength she has left. The girl, wisely, does as she's told until she's beside's Coulson, his thumb coming up to brush the tears that have now tracked down her face. 

"My brave girl." Melinda sighs, her strength little and sparse although she's sure Simmons has injected her with some electrolytes. "Everything's okay. Do you hear me? Skye? You're not listening."

Skye nods. "I am." She defends, nuzzling into the women's hand- her heart seizing as she feels how cold it is against her face, shooting Coulson a look he nods, _he knows_.

"Then i need you not to-" Skye goes to argue before May cocks an eyebrow, she's crying too now, the young girl is momentarily distracted by Coulson's hand on the large expanse of May's stomach, rubbing soft circles. It's such a soothing moment in such a erratic setting. "-I need you to go to your room, you don't need to be here, don't need to hear this."

Skye nods and almost forgets to move her body before Coulson's hand is on her shoulder, guiding her to the door where Mack awaits, guiding Skye away from the scene. Coulson is down the hall, watching them go when he hears a loud thud- a very definite sound of a body hitting the floor. **May**.

He turns like a dime before he watches with pained eyes as the love of his life stumbles down the hall, a trail of blood following in her wake. _**She must be in such pain**_. He sighs and shoots a quick apology to young Scot as he clambers for the door, rubbing his head. 

He rushes to get to her side before he notices her direction of travel. His office. The place they rekindled everything.

"Melinda..." He sighs, running quickly to her in time to catch her just under her arms and into his chest as they fall, forever falling, into one another. "What are you doing?" He whispers.

There's a beat of silence, Simmons seems to have appeared from thin air as, muttering something under her breathe about how the Lab is the best place to be before Coulson shoots her a look and she shuts her muttering, laying blankets out beneath and between Melinda's legs as she lays in Coulson's arms. 

"Hm, Mel?" 

"I can't do this..." Her voice is uneven but thankfully strong, he nods to Simmons and she seems to nod back, finished setting out all her equipment before reeling in a sore and nervous Fitz. He waits, she's clearly not done. "I have to go..."

"You can barely walk, Mel..."

"I have to...Please, please..." Her breathes are mere hiccups. "You weren't supposed to know...I'm so sorry you didn't know...I couldn't hurt you...not again...I can't be a mother...that girl, that girl Phil..." She's hysteric and Phil presses soothing kisses to her temple, keeping her demons at bay. "I....I can't....Please....Please don't go...Don't leave us again..."

He almost bursts into laughter. This is about his death. He left her. Stupid. He's so goddamn stupid.

"I'm not going anywhere, Melinda. No where and neither are you, we're going to get through this. Do you hear me? We're going to have this baby and you're going to scream at me later for being such an idiot, Okay? Later."

A final nod from Simmons and Melinda nods, she'd shut her eyes sometime ago in some attempt to shut out the pain and she nods with him. "Yeah?" He asks, hopeful. She nods lazily, sleepily before breathing out a breathy moan, her lips forming an 'o' shape. 

"Push, May. I need you to push, low and deep. That's it. You got it." Simmons coaches and honestly May has never been more thankful for the girl, her team, their family. 

"I can feel that head!" Simmons beams and Coulson beams back, although a little nervously. 

May smiles gently against the pain, eyes opening to snake a hand over the swell of her stomach and between her legs and behold she can feel a head and...hair, my god a mound of hair and she lets out a laugh, genuine and tearfully- feeling her lover kiss the side of her neck. She's sweaty and clammy against his lips but he couldn't care in the slightest.

"One more, May, One big push." Simmons nods.

Melinda nods back, gritting her teeth and baring down with all her might, it's the last spurt of energy she has and she's unsure if it's the pain or the dehydration but she falls back against the expanse of Coulson's chest, the world going dizzy. 

There's a serge of pain and a rush of emotion before it all subdues and a serine squeal enters the room. May sighs, lost against Coulson's chest- her purpose served. 

"Do you hear that? Huh? She's got your lungs 'Lin." He laughs drunkenly, his eye's glued to the squirming body between Melinda's legs, Simmons is frantically trying to clean the poor thing. But she's here, healthy, my god...a Father. He's a father. His duty has only just begun. All his life, this is the dream he'd wanted. Someone to share his love to Captain America and to secretly enjoy his _awful_ jokes. And now he was a father, a person, a person who was completely and utterly dependent upon them. 

The baby is placed in their arms and when Coulson tears his eyes from the little girl to look up at Simmons she gives him the all good. Coulson smiles giddily, wrapping an arm around Melinda and _their_ child. "Look what we made, Mel." He whispers, aware of her weary state. She nods weakly, exhausted from her endeavours, eye's opening to observe the tiny form. "I'm so proud of you, _both_ of you. She's perfect, 'Lin." 

"Perfect." Melinda mutters, fingers coming to lazily stroke the baby's features.

The baby coos, seemingly content in her parent's grasp. "Hi Angel eyes." His voice is no higher than a whisper and Melinda smiles, his gentleness always surprising her. "I'm your dad..." Huh. 

"Violette...." Melinda hums against his chest, he can tell by her voice that sleep is taking her. He'd have to move them both with the help of Simmons to the Med bay soon. Right now, he had his family literally, in the palm of his hands. Right now, everything was perfect.

"Violette. Violette Margaret Coulson." Her- no their daughter nuzzled into her mother's chest in hopes for food. "Welcome to the world, princess. I promise you- I promise, we'll always protect you."


End file.
